Using intimately recorded phone calls and home movies, a daughter reflects on her father’s life and their complex relationship — weaving the story of his miraculous journey from the streets of India with the realities of life in America.
POV “The Gas Station Attendant” airs Monday, August 3rd at 10pm on WXXI-TV and streaming live on the WXXI and PBS apps.
Karla’s sensitive portrait of her Indian migrant father, HN Shantha Murthy, and his lifelong chase of the American dream, arrives at a time when the immigrant issue has turned extremely fractious and distressing in the USA, threatening to rip apart the social fabric, making the film gain relevance (…) The migrant experience is central to Karla’s film but she frames it within the context of a family saga, more so a father-daughter dialogue of sorts. (…) Karla’s is a compassionate, caring and intimate look back at him, in which Shantha comes across as an extremely affectionate, warm, understanding and loving father. An admirable man that few in the wide world would have known but for his daughter’s film on him.
Photo Credit: POV Magazine